[Osmf-talk] Funding of iD Development and Maintenance

[Allan Mustard]

Andy, Frederik, et al,

OSMF won't fail, simply because the "worst-case" scenario is reversion
to the 100% do-ocracy of volunteers, which has its drawbacks but is
doable, has been sustainable for nearly 16 years, and is very low cost. 
That particular downside risk is very small, as in very close to zero. 
The question is whether there are improvements to the platform within
our reach, for which funds could be raised, that would not undermine the
volunteer spirit of the OSM community and thereby to endanger the
project.  The Board is listening to all voices, not only the loudest,
and we encourage all with information and perspectives to share, to
speak up.

cheers,
apm 

On 8/5/2020 8:14 AM, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 05.08.20 11:26, Andy Allan wrote:
>> Because OSMF simply cannot fail. It holds rights on the database that
>> are not and cannot be available to any other organisation. It holds
>> the copyrights and domains. It holds the user accounts. If something
>> goes seriously wrong with OSMF, there is no way to recover
> Can/should we take steps that would make it easier to recover from a
> total failure of OSMF, instead of trying to ensure that OSMF never fails?
>
> For example, regarding the holding of rights; each contributor has given
> the OSMF certain rights through the contributor agreement but could the
> OSMF pass these rights on to another organisation? The contributor
> agreement does not say that the right is not transferable.
>
> Perhaps the OSMF could concentrate on the "operative business" - having
> members, collecting money, running servers, employing staff, etc. - and
> there could be a nondescript charity somewhere that holds domain names,
> trademarks, and database rights.
>
> Or the other way round, possibly you meant that by "arms-length
> organisations", that the OSMF becomes the nondescript charity that only
> has a couple of trademarks and rights, and all the operative business is
> run by the "OpenStreetMap Services Ltd." or whatever, which would be the
> organisation that can fail without tearing down the project.
>
> Bye
> Frederik
>
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